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This article presents three models of counseling exceptional students from a systems perspective. The authors present their definition of counseling, the goals of counseling, and the counseling relationship from a systems perspective. Each model is described, including assessment and intervention techniques appropriate for working with children, adolescents, and their families when giftedness and learning disabilities and other disabilities are part of the context. The authors discuss implications for school counselors and provide several cases as examples.

One portion of a national study of bullying, which surveyed gifted 8th graders regarding bullying during their school years (N = 432), used structured interviews (N = 57) to explore the lived experience of being bullied or being a bully. Qualitative analysis of interview data found that even just one incident was highly distressing for some. Also important are the findings that many victims suffered in silence, struggled to understand bullying, assumed responsibility for stopping it themselves, despaired when it continues, and thought violent thoughts. Intelligence appeared to have helped most of those interviewed to make sense of bullying, including those who had intentionally halted their own bullying. Many subjects believed that not being known contributed to being bullied. Helping students to make social connections and adjustments, especially during the early middle school years, may be crucial to their well-being and to their feeling safe in school.

Gifted eighth graders (N = 432) in 11 U.S. states participated in a retrospective national study that explored the prevalence and effects of being bullied and being a bully during kindergarten through grade 8. No significant differences were found related to size of city, race/ethnicity, and geographical region in terms of either being bullied or being a bully. Sixty-seven percent of all participants had experienced at least 1 of 13 kinds of bullying listed on the survey, more in grade 6 than in other grades, and 11% had experienced repeated bullying. Name-calling and teasing about appearance were the most common kinds of bullying, and the latter was among several kinds of bullying significantly related to emotional impact. In grade 8, 16% were bullies, and 29% had violent thoughts. At all grade levels, a larger percentage of males than females were bullied, were bullied more than 10 times, and were bullies.